The war in Ukraine has now gone on for so long that, birds in the Donbas region have adapted and are using strains of Drone control fiber optic cables to build their nests.
A post from Ukraine claims that this half-finished nest was found after a tree fell during a Russian glide bomb bombing.
Let us make it our goal, that our children will inherit a world in which birds once again build nests out of twigs and stalks.
@ErikJonker
So true! In the treeless wastelands of Australia eagles make nests out of barbed wire & site them on the top of electricity poles. Sad that these & Ukrainian birds have had to adapt but they do. 😐
@christianschwaegerl @Su_G @ErikJonker @randahl Does make me wonder whether birds that build nests with fibre optic cable will discover they are much more durable and produce a Ukrainian subspecies that invests more in mating and child-rearing than in nesting? Maybe a nest will become a generational resource that's used over and over again instead of a consumable that needs to be rebuilt.
What will the impact be on disease transmission (more long term or chronic illness from the fibers themselves? More shared environments for increased transmission?) and on behavior (Will birds fight over particularly sturdy nests? Will they start improving them from one season to the next?)
I wonder if this is real. If it is, it's sad.
It's a terrible strain on the environment, yes. The bombs, drones, all the materials and resources needed to create what's required for warfare. It's terrible. The cities and buildings that were destroyed also mean a lot needs to be cleaned up. The devastation is enormous. I truly admire the spirit of those who stay to fight for their country!
@terminhell
Drone fiber is no ordinary FTTH or FTTD fiber though, built & insulated for years of use in pipes or under desks. Drone fiber is one-use, one-way fiber, fire and forget. A drone carries a spool of this fiber which unwinds and is left behind as the drone flies. Insulation would add unnecessary weight to the fiber and thus limit the usage of the drone. I guess (haven't found much detail) the drone light diode tech makes somehow up for the lack of insulation.
@terminhell
Yes, I remember (copper-) wire-steered rockets from the 80s. Unfortunately I have only limited information on the protocols and tech being used on todays fiber-optics drones made in Ukraine.
@randahl https://www.gl-fibercable.com/products/single-mode-bare-optical-fiber-spool-g.657a2-optical-fiber-for-fpv-drone.html
So it is insulated, just different than typical fiber. Otherwise the signal loss and interference would make this all useless. Indeed, TIL'd
Alt text
The back of a left hand wearing a brown glove supports a bird's nest made of thin, white-ish fibre optic cable, which makes the curvature of the nest. The nest is seen from a side view Within the nest there are also some straight, light beige pieces, about 50-mm long (2 inches), 5-mm wide (25/128 inches) and 1-mm thick (5/128 inches). The uniformity of the light beige pieces suggests that they are part of the fabricated cable. What appears to be green grass in the top view is not obvious Tall grass, trees, and a dark wire chain-link fence are in the background.
Alt text
The palm of a right hand wearing a brown glove holds a bird's nest made of thin, white-ish fibre optic cable, which makes the curvature of the nest. The nest is seen from a top view. the nest there are also some straight, light beige pieces, about 50-mm long (2 inches), 5-mm wide (25/128 inches) and 1-mm thick (5/128 inches). The uniformity of the light beige pieces suggests that they are part of the fabricated cable. The top view reveals what might be some strands of green grass and a thinness which suggests that the nest is still under construction. Tall grass is in the background.
Thank you for the alt text and adding #alttext to your post will make it more visible to people who search for that tag.
Added. Thank you.
Upon further review, the call on the field is reversed.
Both pictures have it on the back of the left hand.
So I suggest a corrected alt text, below.
Alt text
The back of a left hand wearing a brown glove supports a bird's nest made of thin, white-ish fibre optic cable, which makes the curvature of the nest. The nest is seen from a top view. the nest there are also some straight, light beige pieces, about 50-mm long (2 inches), 5-mm wide (25/128 inches) and 1-mm thick (5/128 inches). The uniformity of the light beige pieces suggests that they are part of the fabricated cable. The top view reveals what might be some strands of green grass and a thinness which suggests that the nest is still under construction. Tall grass is in the background.
Any suggestion that the original alt text interpretation that this was the palm of the right hand is totally due to the alt text writer viewing the image on a smallish smartphone.
Does anyone know if this fiber is strong enough that animals can get tangled up in it? If it got wrapped around a bird’s foot or neck, would the bird be able to break free?
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